Discussion Prompt 1
As an auditor, Gail is required to conceal confidential information concerning her clients’ financial records which qualify as property rights (Hill, 2008). As a result, Gail should not reveal to her parents information concerning the loopholes she observed in AMC’s financial records. However, the Golden Rule dictates that Gail should do to others what she should have them do to her (Hill, 2008). Further, Gail must disclose the risk of investing in AMC to prevent her parents from losing half of their retirement fund (Hill, 2008). In this case, Gail should disclose to her parents that investing in AMC is not a good idea without revealing information about the potential class-action lawsuit.
As observed above, Gail is professionally obligated to ensure the confidentiality of AMC’s financial records. However, if Gail fails to advise her parents she will violate two principles of disclosure the Golden Rule and the prevention of serious harm. Consequently, Gail has to figure out a creative way to solve the ethical dilemma. Hill (2008) recommended the use of professional judgment to discern which information should be concealed and which can be disclosed without causing harm or violation of professional ethics. As such, Gail should rely on her professional knowledge to identify the amount of information she is allowed to reveal to her parents without violating her professional and moral ethics.
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Personally, it is usually difficult to discern which information I should conceal or disclose especially where confidential information is involved and the audience is a friend or family. From the study, I learned that one is justified to conceal information where dignity rights, property rights, and loyalty rights are involved (Hill, 2008). Further, disclosure of information should be guided by three principles, namely, the right to know, the Golden rule, and the prevention of serious harm (Hill, 2008). Consequently, the lesson is a useful guide for solving ethical dilemmas concerning concealment and disclosure.
The lesson concerning concealment and disclosure is vital in deciding the amount of information one should reveal about one’s workplace. Notably, some of the information contained by employees such as sales data is confidential and revealing it could have detrimental personal and organizational effects. Thus, it is crucial to know what information one is allowed to reveal and to whom.
Discussion Prompt 2
Scholars have proposed various remedies for unethical corporate behaviors such as stigmatizing bad behavior, using government interventions, and promoting corporate social responsibility (CSR). However, there is no consensus concerning the best way to promote business ethics. For instance, Pheifer (2020) argued that incentives are inefficient as people are motivated by different factors not just money and incentives may also entice people to take short-cuts in businesses. In most cases, unethical behavior is common because "interventions to encourage ethical behavior are often based on misperceptions of how transgressions occur and thus are not as effective as they could be” (Epley & Kumar, 2019). For instance, Michael Miller suggested that, in today’s society, CSR is used as a political or social tool to gain support as opposed to promoting business accountability (Do the right thing part 5, n.d.). A possible solution to the problem is creating an ethical culture built on values, incentives, and cultural norms. As Pheifer (2020) highlighted, “the beliefs of individuals help to create organizational life” (p.28). Consequently, values dictate the expected behavior of employees while cultural norms are established by the top leaders through management practices such as servant leadership (Hill, 2008). Incentives reward ethical behavior in the workplace (Epley & Kumar, 2019). Thus, business ethics can be attained through a wholesome approach that encourages an ethical culture as opposed to relying on a single alternative such as promoting CSR.
Discussion Prompt 3
The situational leadership model stipulates that there is no one size fits all approach to leadership and the management style varies depending on the situation. The situational leadership model requires leaders to first understand the most vital tasks and priorities and then consider the readiness of employees by assessing their capability and willingness before selecting an appropriate leadership style (Ghazzawi et al., 2017). There are four situational leadership styles, namely, directing, coaching, supporting, and delegating. Directing is suitable where employees have low ability and low willingness and leaders must define the employees’ roles and tasks (Ghazzawi et al., 2017). Coaching is appropriate for employees with high levels of willingness but low ability where the leader defines their roles and tasks while taking suggestions from personnel (Ghazzawi et al., 2017). Supporting is suitable where workers have high ability but low willingness and the leaders role is to offer support and motivation (Ghazzawi et al., 2017). Delegating works for employees with high ability and willingness and require minimal supervision (Ghazzawi et al., 2017). However, Ken Blanchard observed that a common issue with situational leadership is that leaders try to impose the leadership style on employees as opposed to involving them (BiolaUniversity, 2012). For instance, as a supervisor in a local restaurant, I was tasked with defining tasks for all employees. However, with experience, I began delegating work to the most experienced employee and rarely interacted with her as she required minimal supervision. Personally, it seemed like a good step but the employee felt like she did something wrong resulting in me cutting contact hours with her since I had failed to explain the change in leadership style. Thus, situational leadership requires leaders to update employee concerning the change in leadership styles.
References
BiolaUniversity (2012b, April 28). Ken Blanchard: Situational leadership [Video] . YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGPg7o6JeQo
Do the right thing part 5 (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://nv.instructuremedia.com/fetch/QkFoYkIxc0hhUVIwL21FQ01Hd3JCeHVGcEY4
Epley, N., & Kumar, A. (2019, April 16). How to design an ethical organization . Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2019/05/how-to-design-an-ethical-organization.
Ghazzawi, K., Shoughari, R. E., & Osta, B. E. (2017). Situational leadership and its effectiveness in rising employee productivity: A study on North Lebanon organization. Human Resource Management Research , 7 (3), 102-110. DOI: 10.5923/j.hrmr.20170703.02.
Hill, A. (2008). Just business Christian ethics for the marketplace (3rd ed.). InterVarsity Press.
Pheifer, T. (2020). Business ethics the search for an elusive idea . Cognella Inc.
